Kinder 2

Kinder 2 students deepen and refine their understanding of letters, sounds, words, and phrases. Predictable stories, poetry, simple non-fiction books, and picture books are part of each classroom’s library. K2 students follow the Writer’s Workshop curriculum, providing them with daily opportunities for writing across a wide variety of genres. They make signs for the block area, labels for different areas and items in the classroom, and short sentences for pictures and paintings. They offer thoughts, impressions, compose notes and messages, and write about their experiences. Writing may be a collaborative effort or a solitary pursuit. Invented spelling is encouraged. Students “write what they hear,” with the understanding that a story can be edited with the help of a teacher when they are ready to produce a completed work. Children look forward to publishing their own stories and proudly read their finished books to friends, teachers, and partners in other classes.

Like Kinder 1 students, Kinder 2 students push the boundaries of their conceptual thinking and challenge themselves in their monthly projects with forays into STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Design, and Math) subject areas. Our project-based curriculum provides an interdisciplinary approach that exercises multiple areas of the brain and helps students understand that all learning is connected, linking the STEAM areas and the areas of language, literature, and the social sciences.

In addition to attending art, music, and physical education classes, which include swimming in Nido’s outstanding Aquatics Center facilities, Kinder 2 students also have daily Spanish classes. They go to the Learning Commons weekly not only to read with the librarians and check out books but also to learn how to find books that interest them; in this way, they begin to explore by themselves the wonderful world opened up by independent reading and access to literature and information. Several field trips, related to the projects, help them discover the local community, and they begin class performances in Nido’s Academy of Arts building, an exciting step in exploring all of the educational resources Nido has to offer them in the years ahead.